Listening (on social media) more than you speak

Throughout my career I’ve received a range of advice from good to ground breaking. One seemingly simple piece of advice – listen more than you speak – has been essential to my success.

Starting my career working at a major pharmacy retailer, I was always frustrated when we’d have a visitor from the corporate office and they’d only talk to the store manager or pharmacist. As someone working the floor and talking to customers every day, my perspective was just as, if not more, valuable than theirs.

Today when I visit one of our 1,000+ Banfield hospitals across the U.S. I make it a point to speak and listen to everyone to ensure their voice dictates the vision of our organization. With over 75% of our workforce being Millennial/Gen Z, I also use social media to listen at scale so when I scroll through my Instagram feed I can see what’s actually happening on our hospital floors. 

Culture matters and no matter your position, you control culture. Each day I try to empower people to make changes and act like owners regardless of where they sit in the organization. Social media is an invaluable tool for culture creation and connection, providing a direct, two-way dialogue that ensures everyone’s voices are heard.

To bring this to life, each month I host #BanterWithBrian on Instagram to solicit and answer questions from our associates. Over the last year alone I’ve received more than 5,000 questions from followers which includes about 10-15 daily engagements thanks to the open dialogue started during #BanterWithBrian. The ideas, comments and feedback I hear and then activate on - whether that’s new scrubs policies or technology investments - are critical to not only the future success of our practice but the continued engagement of our workforce. 

I also don’t want to forget to mention the best part: it’s a lot of fun! I look forward to each #BanterWithBrian and free my schedule so that the engagement doesn’t have to fit in between meetings and/or phone calls. What started out as largely text based conversations has evolved into a creative video and text discussion. This unique structure gives everyone the latitude to do something that’s hard on social media in 2019—and that’s be themselves. That sincerity, creates a true framework where anyone can feel comfortable to follow along, participate and even have a laugh.

Being a social CEO means breaking down barriers to connect, listen and learn from our associates where they are vs. where I sit. The best ideas and solutions start within our hospitals. And if we make a better world for our associates, we’ll be sure to live up to our purpose to make a better world for pets.